Déjà Q
'' |image= |series= |production=40273-161 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Richard Danus |director=Les Landau |imdbref=tt0708699 |guests=John de Lancie as Q''', Corbin Bernsen as '''Q2 (Uncredited), Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan, Richard Cansino as Garin, Betty Muramoto as Bre'el IV scientist, Majel Barrett as Computer Voice |previous_production=The High Ground |next_production=A Matter of Perspective |episode=TNG S03E13 |airdate=5 February 1990 |previous_release=The High Ground |next_release=A Matter of Perspective |story_date(s)=43539.1 (2366) |previous_story=The High Ground |next_story=A Matter of Perspective }} =Summary= The Enterprise arrives at planet Bre'el IV to prevent the looming disaster of the planet's asteroidal moon falling from its orbit and crashing into the highly populated planet; as the ship arrives, the planet is already experiencing damaging effects of the moon's gravitational field. As the crew is working, Q appears on the bridge naked. Q explains that he is being punished by the Continuum for spreading chaos throughout the universe and he has been stripped of all his powers, banished from the Q Continuum, and transported to the Enterprise as a human, asking asylum. Picard reluctantly helps Q, but instead of assigning him guest quarters, Picard treats Q like a human and throws him in the brig. As the moon continues to descend to the planet, Picard urges Q to use his powers and move the moon back into its original orbit. Q still insists that he is powerless except for his IQ of 2005. The captain assigns Lt. Commander Data to watch Q and is ordered to assist the Engineering team. Q suggests that they "change the gravitational constant of the universe." Experiencing hunger for the first time, Q goes to the Ten-Forward lounge with Data, who suggests a chocolate sundae. After ordering ten sundaes, his hunger is quickly displaced upon encountering Guinan, who takes advantage of Q's mortal form to stab him with a fork. Shortly thereafter, Q is set upon by a cloud of gaseous entities called the Calamarain, who, having previously been tormented by Q, are attempting to get revenge. After raising the shields to prevent the Calamarain from attacking Q, Picard determines that Q took refuge on the Enterprise to protect himself from alien species that hold grudges against him. Q's idea of manipulating the gravity field of the moon sparks an idea in Chief Engineer La Forge, which he tests; however, the test lowers the Enterprise's shields, allowing the Calamarain to attack Q again. Data attempts to save Q from their assault but is electrified in doing so, nearly frying his positronic brain. Realizing that his presence on the Enterprise is doing more harm than he expected, Q leaves the ship in a shuttlecraft. As the Calamarain close onto the shuttle, a second Q being appears on the shuttle and informs Q that the Continuum is willing to give him a second chance and restore his powers. Q accepts and shrinks the Calamarain entities and teleports them into the palm of his hand, gloating over the restoration of his powers. The other Q reminds him that he should reflect upon the lessons he's learned, and he grudgingly turns the tiny aliens loose. Q returns to the Enterprise and celebrates. Nudged by Picard to leave, he departs, bestowing a parting gift on Data for showing him how to be human. After Q disappears, Data begins to laugh uncontrollably for a moment, to the surprise of the rest of the Enterprise crew. Upon learning that the Bre'el moon has returned to a safe orbit, Picard surmises that Q is responsible, and says that perhaps Q has a residue of humanity after all, but a cigar appears in Picard's hand with the usual dash cross-star white light, with Q's voice telling him, "don't bet on it." =Errors and Explanations= Internet Movie Database Factual errors # The crew attempt to adjust the moon's orbit at perigee (closest approach). If you are attempting to adjust the altitude of a bodies perigee (in this case to avoid a collision with the planet) the best time to do it is to wait until it reaches apogee. This will change the elevation of perigee the most with the least amount of energy. Changing a body's velocity at perigee only changes the elevation of apogee and does nothing to change its perigee. If they are trying to avoid a collision the crew has chosen the most wrong time to do it. It may not have been possible to wait that long.'IMDB entry tt0708699 Nit Central # ''David Batchelder on Monday, June 28, 1999 - 9:26 am: Graphics aboard the Enterprise must be different than those here on "backwards" Earth. After the process of reducing the gravity of the moon, a big graphic pops up on a screen opposite the warp core. Presumably, this shows the effect the Enterprise is having. Now, I'm no scientist, so correct me if I'm wrong, but somehow I imagined that this would encompass the entire moon. Obivously not so. Right before La Forge checks on the success, this graphics shows the "bubble" only passing through the center fifth of the moon. Seconds later, La Forge says that the process is working. Either this "bubble" can expand very quickly, or the graphic is misleading! '''Perhaps the bubble is lowering the gravitationl effect of the moon from the inside. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Sunday, July 22, 2001 - 2:40 am: Data is sitting at Ops when Q arrives, later, while still sitting at Ops, Data scans Q with a tricorder. Does Data normally wear a tricorder while sitting at Ops? There may be a tricorder stored in the console. # In the opener, Q shows up naked and the crew believe him to still have his powers. After the title sequence Q is wearing a drab outfit and telling them that he has been stripped of his powers. At some point between these scenes, someone must have brought Q this outfit and told him to wear it, or Q himself may have asked for something to wear, in any case, why didn't Q explain then that he had been stripped of his powers? ' ''LUIGI NOVI on Monday, July 23, 2001 - 12:12 am: It was probably the former, since Q himself mentioned with derision the custom of wearing clothes as being outdated.' # Why don't they attach rockets to the moon to help push it away? '''They could cause the moon to break up.' # How does the computer know that the Calamarain signals are intelligent? Most likely some form of automatic anyalisis. # 2001:569:77C6:BA00:C6E:B97F:4521:D6C4 Q asks 'What must I do to convince you people?'. When Worf replies 'Die', he has his arms crossed. The very next scene he has his arms down. Worf may have trained himself to move his arms quickly without the movement being obvious! =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation